From Middletown to you: Beatles tribute band playing Paramount

Friday

Oct 26, 2012 at 2:00 AM

As a springboard for Middletown's upcoming 125-year anniversary celebration, 1964 the Tribute will return to the city's historic Paramount Theatre for a single performance. What has been hailed as "the number one Beatles tribute show on earth" by Rolling Stone, 1964 has been playing in sold-out venues worldwide since the early 1980s.

Pat De Mono

As a springboard for Middletown's upcoming 125-year anniversary celebration, 1964 the Tribute will return to the city's historic Paramount Theatre for a single performance. What has been hailed as "the number one Beatles tribute show on earth" by Rolling Stone, 1964 has been playing in sold-out venues worldwide since the early 1980s.

"This group appeals to all ages," says Maria Bruni, director of the Office of Community and Economic Development, organizer of the event. "They've sold out Carnegie Hall. They've toured the world." It's the perfect kickoff, she says, to the many activities planned to commemorate the 1888 incorporation of Middletown as a city.

1964 is composed of original members and co-founders Mark Benson, as John Lennon, and Tom Work, as George Harrison, plus Graham Alexander, as Paul McCartney, and Bobby Potter, as Ringo Starr. Touted by critics and fans alike as the most authentic Beatles tribute band ever assembled, the group's success, according to Benson, can be attributed to its meticulous portrayal of the four lads from Merseyside. Every detail of the music icons' onstage personae is faithfully replicated, down to individual mannerisms and flawless Liverpudlian accent.

"It was always important to me," says Benson, "that if we're going to do a show and we're going to promote it as one where you think you're seeing the Beatles, it wouldn't make sense to go to all the trouble of getting the haircuts, the suits, the guitars and the drums just right, then get up there and say (drawling), 'Howdy, howdy, everybody. We're going to do a couple of songs ...'"

1964 marks the year the mop-topped Brits arrived in New York for their prodigious television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

"As Americans, we were fascinated by them," Benson says. "They weren't just musicians. They were celebrities."

1964 the Tribute re-creates a live Beatles concert, featuring songs from the pre-"Sgt. Pepper" era.

"We assumed it would be a baby-boomer show," Benson says, "because you'd expect people who grew up with (the Beatles) to be nostalgic for it. But we really didn't see that this was going to be probably the ultimate family show."

It's a mixture, he says, of "rock 'n' roll, and good, clean fun" that attracts "young kids to grandparents."